applcin

One thing I'm noticing from watching the late 60s episodes of The Doctors is how well the actors either masked using it or rarely seemed to use it. I mean, on top of learning just ordinary conversation lines, they had to sound convincing with all the medical jargon and gravitas. Plus they had the added pressure of getting it right the first time. I mean, you can see all the technical booboos, mics and cameras failing to pull back in time, the actors occasionally making eye contact with the camera, but it's hard to pick out anyone who relied on cue cards so heavily as to be obvious. And the fact that an actor might have misspoken a word or name or even ad-libbed a little just made the dialogue seem all the more real, as people do make errors when they talk.

Even the potential appeal/value of cast interviews on the app has diminished with Locher's interviews available for free on youtube. I appreciate what they did in the first place just by offering the show on demand. It just seems they keep doing things sort of half-baked, things left unfinished or neglected, including the general Retro TV site itself. It just makes me confused about how committed and capable they are.

The e-mail does say all available episodes will be there on demand. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that the issues with WTD had more to do with human choices and not so much the platform's performance. The delay of the final years' episodes due the pandemic, the lack of expansion with the originally promised features, the mislabeled episode dates, likely lacking in hoped-for number of subscribers....I think they overestimated the audience that would pay for it. Drawing an audience watching a classic soap on a channel for free vs. paying even a small fee to essentially binge one show (and partake of the other features that didn't come to be), plus when people finish the series they likely wouldn't renew...they probably should have done originally what they're doing now. I don't know how interactive or community-involved the site will be or whether it will be essentially just a collection of streams and on-demand content. It keeps feeling like they want to aim high but the result doesn't quite make it.

Got an e-mail today, as a subscriber to the app, that the episodes will soon be moved to another platform called It's Real Good TV. So, basically, The Doctors content won't be its own island soon. I suspected something was afoot as the WTD app seemed neglected on both sides. As cool as it was to be able to have WTD on demand (even with many out-of-sequence episodes), I had my doubts about the sustainability and appeal of a subscriber app devoted to a single series, let alone a soap that many people aren't even aware of. Heck, if GH or DOOL were to put its 1970s episodes on a devoted subscription app, I wouldn't expect a huge customer base there either. I am curious about what the new cost might end up being, since it will include more content. I'm actually about 2 months away from where I started the episodes over (shortly after Carolee and Dan's wedding) so I still haven't seen most of the show.

R.I.P. actor Cliff Simon. Stargate SG-1 fans remember him as Ba'al. https://www.facebook.com/cliffsp/posts/10208176652289566 https://bleedingcool.com/tv/stargate-sg-1-veteran-tv-actor-cliff-simon-passes-away-age-58/

Five episodes into Sliders. Now this one looks like it's gonna be a fun ride! And it's cool to already see so many guest actors I recognize from the Stargate universe.

I'm trying to watch The Expanse but 6 episodes in I find it mostly boring and the only story track I haven't ff-ed is Holden & crew. If the whole series is like this, I'm probably going to watch 1/3 of each episode until even that becomes not worth it anymore. Also started Sanctuary because of Amanda Tapping. I'm only a couple of episodes in...not feeling this one much either but at least I'm not ff-ing whole chunks of it. I don't know, maybe I just like my sci-fi less dark and gritty.

Sticking with the Stone storyline on GH, IIRC, didn't Robin think about jumping off "their" bridge after he died and the newly-minted (or newly minded) Jason literally talked her down? I think, in answer to the question of any character this might have made sense with, I think Robin at that time would qualify. Her boyfriend had just died, she herself learned she was HIV+ (and possibly facing the same journey as Stone), she was still a teenager, her parents were dead...she did have her Uncle Mac and her friends but it wasn't the same. Also, I'm trying to remember from that time in the 90s (since I haven't watched in many years so don't know what came later) but did Brenda try to harm herself after a breakup with Sonny? I know there was a car accident and addiction to pain pills which had nothing to do with suicide but was she ever so despondent over losing Sonny that she contemplated it?

I do think soaps have generally stayed away from suicide as the result of an otherwise healthy person (i.e., life not ending soon or physicality not weakened or restricted) going through depression. 3 of my 4 examples were situations of ill/injured people choosing their way out. They were not an ongoing depression type of situation. They (Richard, Stone, KGJ) all came across as people who would have chosen to live had they not had these physical conditions develop and deteriorate. They spoke more about how a catastrophic physical situation that has no cure can affect a person's thinking.

What about someone on life support begging another to pull the plug? I'm thinking GL's Richard Winslow. Reva did the deed because he was physically unable and he begged her to do it. Come to think of it, Dolly/Clone-Reva killed herself by taking the aging serum. Ken George Jones on RH. He had a terminal disease and he was bedridden in his final days. He managed to get pills brought to his room to end his life, they were thrown away but, after people believing Jillian had mercy-killed him, it turned out he had dragged himself out of bed and retrieved the pills. Granted, this was played out as a mystery/possible mercy-killing before it was revealed as suicide. Also, would you consider a terminal AIDS-patient stopping treatment as committing suicide? I am thinking of Stone Cates on GH.

The irony with P&G, of course, is that they were ahead of the whole streaming game (esp. with soaps) a decade or more ago when they collaborated with AOL to put EON and AW online. One might have thought they would have become among the leading providers of streaming content as the technology began to grow. I don't know how much work it took on their part back then but it likely wasn't as cost prohibitive or technologically involved as it would be now. Between that and lack of appeal it would likely hold for the desired demographic, it doesn't seem to be worth their bother to them. Back then with the AOL thing, we were probably just so happy to be able to view the shows again that it didn't matter if the quality may not have been top of the top or that we had to watch on our computers; there wasn't anything else like it to compare it to. Now there are multiple apps and platforms built around shows and people have also become more persnickety about the video quality and effects of what they're watching. (Side note: I think it's too bad how much old stuff of any genre people ignore nowadays because they think it'll look cheesy, tacky, dull, worn away, etc.) Dark Shadows, I think, has a built-in appeal. Vampires always seem to be "in." Plus, there have been remakes, films, the original has been available, etc., that can help bring younger viewers to the rest of the franchise, like with Star Trek. It's had a life through the years, so to speak. I do wonder about the longevity of The Doctors streaming platform. I am a subscriber so I have been using the app. But, and I may be wrong, I can't help but get the feeling that they have spent a lot of time and money creating something that is starving for more of an audience. I was surprised from the outset they went to the extent they did with building a platform for an old soap nobody saw for decades (and that has nothing to do with the supernatural). But the interface is far from perfect, basically just the collection of episodes, a significant number of which are out of date-order, mislabeled, etc., and the promised contests, trivia and other features don't exist. I know the pandemic put a huge dent in things for them but I've been subscribed for a year and none of those special features have been added. The like/dislikes on most of the episodes on the app sits at zero, I can count on one hand the number of people who reply to their FB posts about the show. I'm starting to think I better hurry up and get through a decade's worth of that show in case they decide it's not feasible offering it through that platform anymore.

RH - Irish-Catholic young politician Frank Ryan = JFK Also, the supporting character of Jumbo Marino I would say was portrayed by his real-life counterpart, Fat Thomas, who, shall we say, was not an actor and ran in certain circles. AMC: I don't know if this was the intent but Jenny and Opal Gardner reminded me of Brooke & Teri Shields: a beautiful, virginal teenaged girl whose ambitious mother managed her and pushed her into modeling and looking seductive. Jenny arrived in PV the same year that Endless Love was released. OLTL - Whether Clint Ritchie happened to have a lot in common with Clint Buchanan (which helped him get the job in the first place), or TPTB often wrote around Clint R, I'd put him in, I think, the very small group of soap actors for whom it could be said that the lines of actor/character separation were among the blurriest. I think a lot of Clint B, especially in his prime, was heavily written to Clint R's characteristics.

Laura T (Janine Turner) was also a missing person at the same time Laura S first went missing. That's how she and her sister, Jackie (Demi Moore) were introduced, as Jackie came to town looking for her sister. Of course, there was this whole mystery of how/why 2 Lauras who resembled each other were missing and Jackie clashed with Luke (in a prelude to an intended pairing) but then she was with Robert before he married Holly. For me as a viewer at the time, and I suspect for many others then, that whole storyline of the lookalike Lauras and David Gray hypnotizing them reeked rotten eggs. We knew Genie had left the show and wasn't coming back for the foreseeable future (if ever, for all we knew then) and she was too popular to recast so dragging out a missing person mystery and muddling it up with a lookalike with shady connections was like, enough already, move on. I was happy when Holly was introduced for Luke and she not only was a totally unconnected character but so different. Finally put an end to the mess. Side note: I was amused to later see Janine Turner with short, brunette hair, not looking anything like she did during her GH days.

I don't think George McDonald may have been known outside of NYC/NYS but he did a lot to help the homeless in NYC, including providing them work, food and housing. I used to see "Doe Fund" workers cleaning and picking up litter along our main avenue. I remember him being on Oprah once back in the day, along with some of the people his foundation had helped. https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-doe-fund-founder-george-mcdonald-20210127-5nut4kp3ujhijdolmiv25mauui-story.html

I was always ambivalent about his casting. I was familiar with both actors and liked both. CR had been my favorite on the show during his prime in the 1980s and I enjoyed the original trio of Buchanan men. Part of me was happy that JvD was given a prominent role on another soap with which I was familiar after languishing at the end of his GL tenure. I reasoned that, with CR's retirement having taken him off the show years earlier, it freed them to get a different spin and additional stories out of the character, not unlike what GH did with John Ingle's Edward Quartermaine after David Lewis left. That being said, it was kind of bittersweet to me to have a new Clint....new actor and new spin. Had I not already liked JvD, I may not have cottoned to nu-Clint at all.

On OLTL, I can't picture Jerry verDorn doing the real cowboy-heavy stuff that Clint Ritchie had to do some of back in the day. For sure, I could never see him in the Old West 1888 story. But the Clint B. of that time, and for years, was heavily molded around CR.

I wonder what would have happened had GF not become pregnant around the same time. Would there have been a Lulu born then? Would L & L have resumed with a focus on the action stories as opposed to Laura settling into Ward House, becoming an Earth Mother and conflicting with Luke's adventurous and risky nature? She has said she hadn't picked that specific time to get pregnant but it was written in so it did obviously change the course of some things that may have been planned before. Still on GH...Scotty catching the bouquet at L & L's wedding was the perfect, classic soap return. It was a surprise to the characters and to the viewers. Now he was not only embittered and angry but set on the road to becoming Not-Mr.-Nice-Guy-Anymore. Scotty becoming a bad boy made sense given his rejection and humiliation and it led to all sorts of story for years.

I started binging "The Masked Singer" from the beginning. I'd never seen the show up until a few days ago. I finished season 1 and just started season 2. Cute and crazy idea and basically a fun watch, even if I've never heard of some of the celebrities or guesses the judges make. The judges can be a bit tiresome at times (I particularly want to tell Ken to stfu at times because he beats a joke to death, skins it, and crushes the bones.) I was able to guess a few of them, though. Yeah, it's silly but it's in good fun and the celebrities seem to be getting a kick out of it.

I haven't seen post-1981 in years so my memories of Pierson and, especially, Sanderford are not too vivid, especially since I was in school and not able to see it every day. I mostly seem to recall Pierson being on the loud, overbearing side. As a kid catching it here and there during its original broadcast, DHK was the first Frank I saw but I couldn't warm up to him because (unpopular opinion coming up) I couldn't stand Rae and I perceived him as her boy-toy. Having had the chance since then to see the prior two Franks, and also being familiar (and probably biased) with Andrew Robinson from both prior and later roles (esp. DS9), I'd have to say he was my favorite. That being said, I mostly enjoyed his Frank's interactions with his family, showing him being a lawyer, etc., than the romantic stuff. I found him very believable and natural as part of the Ryan clan, he played well off of them and his chemistry with Kate felt like real siblings. He also did well with the lawyer lingo and I could totally buy him as one. His confrontations with Seneca were also worth watching, two very strong-minded men. Michael Hawkins was handsome enough and looked good with Nancy Addison but it's obvious watching him on the show why he's called "Plank-Frank." The man had serious life problems back then and, apparently, still does.

GL - Lucy. With Harley riding off into the marital sunset with Mallet and having made amends with Buzz, he apparently needed another daughter he'd wronged. She literally even arrived at the diner during Harley's wedding sendoff.

Deidre Hall popped up on the Beekman Boys live stream tonight. Love their products, btw. That goat milk soap is so soft on the skin! Anyhoo...she appears around the 23:30 mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3sDazw2-UM&t=1485s

Having just posted about him another topic and not seeing him mentioned here, I just remembered that John Bolger (GL, AW, OLTL, GH) is the great-nephew of Ray Bolger. Sally Gracie was once married to Rod Steiger. Sam Behrens is married to Shari Belafonte (for over 30 years now), of course also making him Harry's son-in-law.

On Season 2 of Crikey! It's The Irwins. I've never really sat and watched them or even Crocodile Hunter. But I got the urge to see cute and even not-so-cute animals in Australia. Now I'm kind of envious of what they get to be around every day. 🦓 🐯 🐨 🦏

I wish Robert Gerringer had gotten to play the final shows of Woodard's discoveries and death. It would have packed more of a dramatic and emotional punch. Instead, it just felt kind of hollow. They had some weird cameramen on this show. Zooming in and out abruptly, panning the room when dialogue is going on. Sometimes it's like FUI...filming under the influence. Add it to all the cameras and mics in view and shadows of cameras and poles holding fake flying bats, guys coughing. And I particularly liked Anthony George coming out of the door at the top of the Collinwood stairs, only to be told to do it again, so back in he went and came out again. 😄